Our invention is generally in the art of data transmission or telecommunication and pertains more particularly to a novel system for, and method of, telecommunication by the time division multiplexing technology. Our invention finds a typical application in a key telephone system which provides direct intercommunication between telephones on the same premises, possibly with facilities for association with the nationwide telephone network.
In a typical key telephone system, as heretofore configured, a plurality or multiplicity of key telephones or terminal units have been star connected to a switching control circuit. We object to this star connection of the key telephones because each path connecting one telephone to the switching control circuit can convey but one channel of messages or data. This requires just as many transmission paths as the number of the star connected telephones. The wiring and associated connections for such prior art key telephone system have thus been very complex and costly.